goodbye, Hobbit.

LOS ANGELES – The estate of “Lord of the Rings” creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company hasn’t paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide.
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The suit, filed Monday, claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts to Tolkien’s estate and other plaintiffs, who contend they only received an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began.

Naturally, no word of this at the Official Hobbit Blog. I still hold out hope that New Line will be forced to do the right thing, and that the Tolkien estate won’t be so burned by the experience that they will allow The Hobbit to be made, but it’s obviously not happening this decade.